''The Harvard Independent'' is a weekly newspaper produced by undergraduate students at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. It is one of the leading hard-news media outlets on the Harvard undergraduate campus. It is the oldest weekly newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at any American university.

Origin and history

The ''Independent'' was founded in 1969 by students and alumni who felt the campus needed an alternative to ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

''. The Crimson at the time reflected the left-wing turn of student organizations throughout the nation in the 1960s, and the founders of the Independent felt politically alienated from Crimson editors. As the decades passed, the weekly newspaper, released every Thursday and distributed both on the Internet and to

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

student dormitories, the format morphed to that of an

alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...

rather than a standard newspaper, with illustrated covers and four main sections: News, Sports, Arts, and the Forum (Op-Ed) section. In addition, the Independent also has several themed issues each year, including the annual The Game issue for the Harvard-Yale game, the literary issue, and the Sex Issue, featuring the results of a campus-wide anonymous survey on sexual practices and opinions at Harvard. The Independent no longer has any political affiliation.

Notable alumni

* President and Editor-in-Chief of Reuters,

Stephen J. Adler Stephen J. Adler (born 1955) is an American journalist. He was editor-in-chief of Reuters from 2011 to 2021. Early life Stephen Adler was born in 1955. His father, Norman, was a high school English department chairman, and his mother, Mildred, was ...

* Political blogger

Matthew Yglesias Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...

* Staples founder,

Thomas G. Stemberg Thomas George Stemberg (January 18, 1949 – October 23, 2015) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a pioneer of the office supplies superstore industry, most notably for founding office supply retail chain Staples ...

* Former Executive Editor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Jill Abramson Jill Ellen Abramson (born March 19, 1954) is an American author, journalist, and academic. She is best known as the former executive editor of ''The New York Times''; Abramson held that position from September 2011 to May 2014. She was the first ...

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Schoo ...

, author of

The Accidental Billionaires ''The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal'' is a 2009 book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook, adapted by Aaron Sorkin for the 2010 film ''The Social Network''. Co-founder Eduar ...

Scott Stossel Scott Hanford Stossel (born August 7, 1969) is an American journalist and editor. He is the national editor of ''The Atlantic'' magazine,

, editor of

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

magazine *

Richard Tofel Richard Tofel is the principal of Gallatin Advisory, a journalism consultancy, and former president of ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism organization. He was the general manager of ProPublica from its founding in 2007 until 2012, an ...

, general manager of

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

Trevor Potter Trevor Potter (born October 24, 1955) is a lawyer, former commissioner and chairman of the United States Federal Election Commission. He is the Founder and President of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit organization which works in the areas ...

, former chairman of the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

and founder of the

Campaign Legal Center Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) government watchdog group in the United States. CLC supports strong enforcement of United States campaign finance laws. Trevor Potter, former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commi ...

Amy Finkelstein Amy Nadya Finkelstein (born November 2, 1973) is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the co-director and research associate of the Public Economics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and ...

, winner of the

John Bates Clark Medal The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." The award is named after the ...

Kannon Shanmugam Kannon Kumar Shanmugam (born November 15, 1972) is an American lawyer known for his litigation at the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been a partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison since 2019, and is the managing partner ...

, Supreme Court litigator

References

External links

''The Harvard Independent'' Homepage''Harvard Independent Alumni Blog''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvard Independent, The Harvard University publications Student newspapers published in Massachusetts Publications established in 1969